[...] Translators just didn't get recognition, they didn't expect to make much of a living, just get by. Very few people were actually trained as translators, but most had a solid college education and a solid knowledge of languages, at least their own language. I had a friend who fell exactly into that category and my circle of friends expanded to include other translators. I found them to be much more interesting as people, and discovered that we often had similar life experiences. I never had trouble making friends, but I always felt "different" and I'm sure they felt it too. When my friend retired, she recommended me as her replacement. I now entered the realm of Reinsurance, of which I knew nothing. I was also the only translator there, and didn't have much to fall back on. However, it was another notch up....
On my new job, I started looking through the files, asking questions and got the company to enroll me in Insurance courses. The College of Insurance was across the street, and I consulted fire codes, insurance policies and fire extinguisher catalogs in their library. I was learning what I had never had the luxury of being able to do before: research. The first time I had to translate a proposal for purposes of insurance of a nuclear plant, I got a call from the head man in that department, congratulating me on the job I had done. "Compares favorably with what we are used to," he said. What an upper! What happened was that I consulted a document in the files similar to the one I was tackling for guidance, but when I saw that my predecessor had used the word "nucleus" instead of "core", I realized that the files were useless to me. I went across the street to the library and looked up "nuclear plants." I immediately found all the terminology I needed.
It takes a great deal more than that to be a good translator these days, of course. [...] | [...] Tõlkijaid lihtsalt ei tunnustatud, nad ei eeldanud, et nad palju raha teenivad, ainult äraelamiseks piisas. Väljaõppega tõlke oli väga vähe, aga enamikul oli tugev kolledžiharidus ja tugev keelteoskus, vähemalt nende endi keele osas. Mul oli üks sõber, kes kuulus just täpselt sellesse kategooriasse ja mu sõprade ring laienes teiste tõlkijatega. Minu arvates olid nad inimestena palju huvitavamad ja ma avastasin, et sageli olid meil olnud sarnased elukogemused. Sõprade leidmisega ei olnud mul kunagi raskusi, aga ma tundsin ennast alati ”teistsugusena” ja ma olen kindel, et nemad tundsid seda ka. Kui mu sõber pensile läks, soovitas ta mind enda asemikuks. Nii sattusin ma edasikindlustamise maailma, millest mul polnud õrna aimugi. Ma olin seal ka ainuke tõlkija ja seega polnud mul isegi kellelegi toetuda. Aga see oli ikkagi üks samm redelil ülespoole… Uues töökohas hakkasin ma faile läbi vaatama, küsimusi esitama ja lasin ennast firmal kindlustusalastele kursustele registreerida. Üle tee asus Kindlustuskolledž ja ma käisin nende raamatukogus tulekahju koode, kindlustuspoliise ja tulukustutikatalooge uurimas. Ma õppisin tegema seda, mis oli varem olnud kättesaamatu luksus teema uurimist. Kui ma pidin esimest kord tõlkima ettepanekut tuumajaama kindlustamise eesmärkidest, sain ma kõne selle osakonna ninamehelt, kes mind tehtud töö puhul õnnitles. ”Positiivne tulemus võrreldes sellega, mida me oleme harjunud saama,” ütles ta. Oi milline kõrvust tõstetud tunne! Juhtus nii, et ma võtsin juhisena aluseks failis oleva sarnase dokumendi, aga kui ma nägin, et mu eellane oli kasutanud sõna ”tuumik” asemel sõna ”tuum”, sain ma aru, et need failid olid mulle kasutud. Ma läksin üle tee raamatukokku ja otsisin välja ”tuumajaamad”. Sain sealt kohe kätte kogu vajaliku terminoloogia. Tänapäeval, muidugi, on heaks tõlkijaks olemiseks vaja palju enamat. [...] |